Cross-cut and rip guide device for portable power saws



March 1, 1960 CROSS-CUT AND RIP GUIDE DEVICE FOR PORTABLE POWER SAWSrandom. 29, 1956 M. HOPLA 2,926,706

2 Sheets-Sheet 1 INVENTOR. LLUYD MILV/N HUPLA jaw/W ATTOR/ I Y L. M.HOPLA March 1, 1960 CROSS-CUT AND RIP GUIDE DEVICE FOR PORTABLE POWERSAWS Filed Oct. 29, 1956 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 INVENTOR. LLUYQ MELVIN HUPLABY \7 W ATTORNE Y United States Patent O CROSS-CUT AND RIP GUIDE DEVICEFOR PORTABLE POWER SAWS Lloyd M. Hopla, Keyport, NJ.

Application October 29, 1956, Serial No. 618,959

" 6 Claims. (Cl. 143-6) This invention relates to my co-pendingapplication Serial No. 284,857, filed April 29, 1952, and issuedDecember 11, 1956, as Patent #2,773,523.

This invention relates to portable power driven saws and moreparticularly to a saw guide. Power hand saws of the type referred to areused extensively for cutting wood and other materials. The power sawcomprises a housing in which an electric motor is mounted and the motorin turn is operatively connected to the saw blade. In some instances thehousing is supported on a flat frame, platform or bed on which the sawrests. With a power saw it is desirable to have a guiding means duringthe cutting operation to effect greater accuracy and this invention isprimarily concerned with this guiding means. In this invention the guideis not necessarily attached to the power sawand the user may readilyutilize the saw with or without the guide according to the cuttingoperation. There have been numerous devices for guiding power operatedsaws and for supportnig the saw in a fixed position for sawingoperations. However these devices are either appreciable in size andweight or their cost prohibitive.

In the prior application the saw guide described and illustrated wasprimarily a cross cut guide and since the majority of people are righthanded it was designed primarily to be actuated by the left hand whilethe saw was manipulated by the right hand. Since filing the priorapplication it has become apparent that this device should beconstructed so that it may be reversed to be manipulated by a lefthanded person, that is, the guide to be operated with the right handwhile the saw is manipulated with the left hand. In addition to the usesof the guide as described in the prior application it has becomeapparent that the guide when modified could be utilized as a rip guide.In one instancethe rip guide is used in a similar manner to the crosscut guide described in the prior application, that is, the rip guide ismovable along one edge of the lumber to be cut. In guiding the saw alongthe grain of the wood and as suggested above, this embodiment of theinvention is also reversable to make it either a left handed or righthanded guide. In addition the modified guide is formed so that the guideele ment may be inverted to provide a perfectly fiat surface for theguide with relation to the element or lumber to be cut. In thisembodiment the guide is simply manually moved along a flat surface toprovide a steadying guide in a rip cutting operation. A still furtherembodiment of this invention contemplates the installation of thesighting gauge at either end of the saw guide depending upon theapplication of the guide in a left handed position or in a right handedposition.

2,926,706 Patented Mar. 1, 196Q ice 2 The object of this invention is toprovide a guide for power saws that will greatly increase theirusefulness and accuracy without detracting from their normal use. Afurther object of this invention is to provide a guide for power sawsthat is not afiixed to the saw and is simple in construction, light inweight and easily afiixed to the work for a cutting operation.

A still further object of this invention is to provide a guide for powersaws in which the guide is positioned to rest upon the material to becut and in which one portion of the guide will rest against one side ofthe material which is the guiding edge to thus maintain the guide inposition for a cutting operation.

A still further object of this invention is to provide a guide for powersaws in which the guide is positioned to rest upon the material to becut and in which one portion of the guide will rest against one side ofthe material which is the guiding edge to thus maintain the guide inposition for a cutting operation and another portion of the guideresting upon the material is provided with a guiding track to partiallysupport and guide a power saw.

A still further object of this invention is to provide a guide forpowersaws in which the guide is positioned to rest upon the material tobe cut and in which one portion of the guide will rest against one sideof the material which is the guiding edge to thus maintain the guide inposition for a cutting operation and another portion of the guideresting upon the material is provided with a guiding track to partiallysupport and guide a power saw and in which means are provided toposition said second element a predetermined distance from the cuttingoperation depending upon the position of the saw blade with relation tothe guiding track.

A still further object of this invention is to provide a guide for powersaws in which the guide is positioned to rest upon the material to becut and in which one portion of the guide will rest against one side ofthe material which is the guiding edge to thus maintain the guide inposition for a cutting operation and another portion of the guideresting upon the material is provided with a guiding track to partiallysupport and guide a power saw and in which means are provided topivotally move said guide to a predetermined position to guide the powersaw in an angular cut. v

A still further object of this invention is: to provide an adjustableguide for power operated hand saws in which the guide is placed upon thematerial to abut with one edge of the material in a manner to guide thepower saw along the length of the material in a ripping operation.

A still further object of this invention is to provide an adjustableguide for power operated hand saws in which the guide is placed upon thematerial to abut with the left side of the material to be manipulated bythe left hand in a manner to guide the power saw along the length of thematerial in a ripping operation.

A still further object of this invention is to provide an adjustableguide for power operated hand saws in which the guide is placed upon thematerial to abut with the right side of the material to be manipulatedby the right hand in a manner to guide the power saw along the length ofthe material in a ripping operation.

A still further object of this invention is to provide an adjustableguide for power operated hand saws in which the guide is placed upon thematerial to abut with one edge of the material and in which means areprovided to pivotally support the guide to guide the power saw in apredetermined angular cut.

A still further object of the invention is to provide an adjustableguide for power operated hand saws in which the guide is placed upon thematerial to abut with one edge of the material and in which means areprovided to pivotally support a curved guide to guide the power saw in apredetermined curved cut.

A still further object of this invention is to provide an adjustableguide for power operated hand saws in which the guide is placed upon thematerial to abut with one edge of the material and in which means areprovided to pivotally support the guide to guide the power saw in apredetermined angular cut and in which the guide is provided withcalibrations so that the guide may be used as a calibrated square aswell as the guiding means for a power saw.

A still further object of this invention is to provide an adjustableguide for power operated hand saws in which the guide may be placed uponthe flat surface of the material and in which the guide is located bymeans of a mark or line on the material and retained in this position toprovide a guiding edge for a power operated saw.

A still further object of this invention is to provide an adjustableguide for power operated hand saws in which the guide may be placed uponthe fiat surface of the material and in which the guide may be locatedin a spaced relation to a line or mark by means of a sighting gauge atone end thereof.

A still further object of this invention is to provide an adjustableguide for power operated hand saws in which the guide may be placed uponthe flat surface of the material and in which the guide may be locatedin a spaced relation to a line or mark by means of a sighting gauge atone end thereof and in which the guide is reversable with means to placethe sighting gauge at the opposite end thereof so that the guide may beused by either a right handed or left handed operator.

Other objects of this invention may be apparent by reference to theaccompanying detailed description and the drawings in which Fig. 1 is aperspective view illustrating a cross cut saw guide,

Fig. 2 is a perspective view illustrating the same guide as shown inFig. 1 but adjusted to a position for the opposite hand operation,

Fig. 3 is a perspective view illustrating the same gmide re-adjusted foroperation on a flat surface,

Fig. 4 is a further embodiment illustrating in perspective a further sawguide, and

Fig. 5 is an enlarged detail of one portion of the guide of Fig. 4.

Referring to the drawings there is illustrated in Figs. 1, 2 and 3 a sawguide which is specifically designed to produce the exact guidancenecessary for a power hand saw wherein the saw may be provided with ashoe (not shown) and in which the shoe will rest upon and be guidedalong the length of the saw guide. The saw guide comprises threeelements 10, 11 and 12, element being the main guide track for the saw.Element 10 is an angle iron positioned with its base 14 to rest upon thework to be cut and having the upper edge 16 of the upright face as theguiding edge of the shoe of the power saw.

Element 10 is provided with two out out portions 17 and 18 provided fora sighting gauge to be explained later. Element 10 is also provided withtwo brackets 19 and 20 that are affixed to the base 14 at either endthereof.

4 26 at either end thereof. In the position illustrated in Fig. 1,element 11 is positioned at right angles to and at the left hand side ofelement 10 and is secured to element 10 by means of a set screw 28, theset screw 28 being passed through apertures 22 and threaded intoaperture 26. Element 12 is a perfectly flat rigid member provided withan aperture 30 at one end thereof to permit a set screw 31 to be passedthrough aperture 30 and threaded into aperture 23 of element 10 to thusretain element 12 in a pivoted relation to element 1!). Element 12 isprovidcd with a slideable shoe 32. The shoe 32 is provided with anaperture 33 through which a set screw 34 is mounted. Set screw 34 is inturn threadably secured in a threaded aperture in element 11 asillustrated in Fig. 1. Although element 11 is shown at to element 10 itis apparent that element 11 may be pivotally moved with relation toelement 10 and may be secured in any angular relationship fromapproximately 5 to with relation to element 10.

With the type of hand saw to be utilized in connection with this guidethe saw blade is set at a predetermined distance from the left hand edgeof the saw. This distance will vary with different makes of saws.Therefore a sighting gauge must be utilized with the saw guide. Thesighting gauge permits the operator or user to thus set the saw guidebefore a cutting operation. The sighting gauge is illustrated in Fig. 1and includes a hinged element 35. The left hand side of the hinge 36 ismounted to element '20 and may be retained by the same set screw 28 bysimply providing an aperture in the hinged element. It is to be notedthat when set screws 28 is mounted it will pass through element 36,bracket 20 and will be threadably mounted in element 11. Element 35 isof a correct dimension to' fit snugly between the edges of the cut outportion 17 of the upright portion 15 of element 10. Thus element 35 maybe moved out of position retracted or may be moved into position asshown in Fig. 1. Element 35 is further provided with a sighting bar 37.The bar 37 is afiixed by means of a screw 38, screw 38 in turn beingsettable into any one of a plurality of apertures 39 in element 35. Thesighting bar 37 is also provided with an elongated slot 40 so that bar37 may be moved slightly in either direction before screw 38 is set tothus place bar 37 in a very exact position. Bar 37 may be very small incross section to pro vide a line sight or bar 37 may be provided withmark thereon for sighting. Referring to Fig. 2 which is the same guide,it is apparent that the guide of Fig. 1 which is normally utilized by aright handed person may be convertedso that it may be used by a lefthanded operator or person. This is accomplished by first removing thesight-, ing gauge by removing set screw 28. The sighting gauge will thenbe moved to the opposite end of element 10 and likewise element 11 willbe pivotally moved while still attached to element 12 until aperture 26is aligned with aperture 21. The set screw 28 and gauge element 35 maythen be set through apertures 21 and 26 to position the guide asillustrated in Fig. 2. It is apparent that the guide as shown in Fig. 2may be positioned against the opposite edge of the lumber and thus maybe used by a left handed person to cut from the opposite side or thecomplete gauge may be lifted and positioned as in Fig. 1. Everythingwill be reversed for a left handed operator, the gauge being held by theright hand while the saw is held by the left hand. Referring to Fig. 3there is illus* trated the same gauge and same elements except that inthis instance the gauge is not to be positioned with relation to eitheredge of the lumber being cut. Instead the gauge is to lie flat upon thesurface of the material M and is positioned with relation to mark X onthe surface of the material as illustrated in Fig. 3. Referring to theelements described in Fig. 1 the set screw 28 is removed and the element11 is released from element 10. By removing 'set screw 34 element 11 isreleased from element 12. Element 11 is then inverted so that its base24 will lie face down upon the work to be cut while the edge or:a-saeyzoe leg 25 will stand at. right anglesand up, from the work asshown in Fig. 3. Set screw- 28 is again mounted through aperture 22 andthreaded into aperture 26 to retain element 11 in a pivotal relationwith element 10. Element 12 is then set by means of the set screw 34,the set screw 34 being mounted in the opposite end of element 11 inaperture 26to thus retain elements 10, 11 and 12 ina set relationship asillustrated. Thus the complete guide provides a fiat lower surface to bemovedalong the surface of a large panel but thus provides a track orguiding edge for a power saw to permit the operator to make a perfectlyclean straight cut. It is further apparent that if the panel to be cutis large it is simply a matter of making one cut with the saw using theguide as shown and stopping the cutting operation long enough to movethe guide a further step forward and having set the guide by means ofthe sighting gauge the sawing operation may be continued until the panelhas been completely cut. This application of the guide to a fiat surfacepermits either a cross cut or a rip operation as the case may be.

Referring to Figs. 4 and 5 there is illustrated a further embodiment ofthis invention which is primarily a rip guide. The guide includes thesame element 10 illustrated in Figs. 1, 2 and 3 but element 11 isreplaced by a pair of arms 11A and 11B and element 12 of the priorembodiment is replaced by a handle 12A. The sighting gauge and all ofits elements are exactly as illustrated in Figs. 1, 2 and 3. The arms11A and 11B for a right handed operator of a power saw are positioned asillustrated in Fig. 4. The center arm (11B) is provided with an abuttingface 45 (Fig. 5) and a portion 46 that extends far enough to place anaperture 47 directly over the threaded aperture 23 of element 10. Thearm 11A is provided with a threaded aperture 47A to be placed underaperture 22 of element 10 to receive set screw 28. It is to be notedthat the end of element 11A will abut with the edge of element 10. Thuswhen elements 11A and 11B are positioned as illustrated in Fig. 4 withtheir abutting face 45 against the edge of the base 14 of element 10 theset screws 28 and 31 may be mounted as illustrated to retain elements10, 11A and 11B in a rigid relationship as illustrated. It is to benoted that elements 11A and 118 may be of various forms, round, squareor.

rectangular without departing from the spirit of this invention. In thisinstance they are square in shape and therefore the handle 12A must beprovided with a pair of square shaped apertures at either end thereof topermit the handle to slide over elements 11A and 118. It is to be notedthat handle 12A is provided with a pair of threaded apertures one ateach end thereof for set screws 49 and 50. Thus it is apparent thatwithset screws 49 and 50 mounted in the threaded apertures of the handle12A the handle 12A may be set at any particular position along thelength of elements 11A and 118 but will always be set in a parallelrelation with ele ment 10. Thus the rip guide as shown in Fig. 4 may beset with relation to a desired out along the length of material such aslumber. It is also apparent that as in Fig. 2 the guide may be takenapart and element 11A may be moved to the opposite end of element 14 aswell as the sighting gauge and the handle 12A may be remounted onelement 11A and 11B and thus the guide becomes a right handed movableguide for a left handed operator of a saw.

Although there is illustrated a cross cut guide for power operated sawsin Figs. 1, 2 and 3 this cross cut guide as illustrated in Fig. 3 isalso useable as a rip guide and it is to be understood that although theguide is provided for power operated hand saws the guide may be utilizedwith any hand operated saw utilizing the guide with a shoe for the sawas described or the guide may be used to abut against the surface of thesaw without departing from the spirit of this invention. Although aparticular means in the form of a special handle has been illustrated inFig. 4 for a further embodiment of this invention, the handle may takeother forms or may be mounted -,in a different. manner without departingfrom the spirit of this invention and this invention shall be limitedonly .by the appended claims.

' What is claimed is:

1. The combination of a saw guide and a sighting gauge in which the sawguide that is movable with relation to the work to be cut includes afirst, second and third arm, said first arm provided with means adjacenteither end and its center for pivotal attachment, said second armpivotally connected to said firsLarm at one end thereof,

said third arm pivotally connected at one end thereof to said first arm,at its center and adjustably attached to said second arm, said firstarm provided with an upturned face and said second arm provided with adown turned face, said first arm provided with a pair of notches in saidupturned face, each notch in alignment transversely of said first armwith the means for pivotally attaching said second arm, said sightinggauge attachable to said first arm at the point of attachment of saidsecond arm and retained in an aligned position by said notch in saidupturned face, said sighting gauge pivotally movable about an axisparallel to said first arm into an extended position for use andpivotally movable into a retracted position when not in use, saidsighting gauge provided with a sighting blade that may be moved to anyposition perpendicular to and horizontally along said gauge to indicatea predetermined spaced position from the upturned face of said first armto determine the saw cutting plane, means to set said sighting blade thesame distance from said upturned guide track face of said first arm toagree with the distance of the setting of the saw blade of the power sawfrom the portion of the saw that rides on said upturned guide trackface.

2. In a device according to claim 1 in which the second arm and thesighting gauge are mounted at the left hand end (as viewed from theattaching side) of said first arm to permit the operator to grasp thedevice in the left hand while operating the saw with the right hand.

3. In a device according to claim 1 in which the second arm and thesighting gauge are mounted at the right hand end (as viewed from theattaching side) of said first arm to permit the operator to grasp thedevice in the right hand while operating the saw with the left hand.

4. The combination of a rip saw guide and a sighting gauge, in which therip saw guide that is movable with relation to the work to be cut,includes a first, second and third arm, said first arm provided withmeans adjacent either end and its center for pivotal attachment, saidsecond arm pivotally connected to said first arm at one end thereof,said third arm pivotally connected at one end thereof to said first armat its center, and adjustably attached to said second arm, said firstand second arms provided with an upturned face, said first arm providedwith a pair of notches in said upturned face, each notch in alignmenttransversely of said first arm, with a means for pivotally attachingsaid second arm, said sighting gauge attachable to said first arm at thepoint of attachment of said second arm, and retained in an alignedposition by said notch in said upturned face, said sighting gaugepivotally movable about an axis parallel to said first arm into anextended position for use and pivotally movable into a retractedposition when not in use, said sighting gauge provided with a sightingblade that may be moved to any position perpendicular to andhorizontally along said gauge toindicate a predetermined spaced positionfrom the upturned face of said first arm to determine the saw cuttingplane, means to set said sighting blade the same distance from saidupturned guide track face of said first arm to agree with the distanceof the setting of the saw blade of the power saw from the portion of thesaw that rides on said upturned guide track face, and means foradjustably positioning said third arm with relation to the unattachedend of said second arm to provide a hand guided rip guide that isslidahle along the surface of the work to cut. 1

5. In a device according to claim 4, in which the seeond arm and thesighting gauge are mounted at the left hand end (as viewed from theattaching side) of said first arm to permit the operator to grasp thedevice in the left hand while operating the saw with the right hand.

6. In a device according to claim 4, in which the see- 0nd arm and thesighting gauge are mounted at the right hand end (as viewed from theattaching side) of said .first 'arm to permit the operator to grasp thedevice in the right hand while operating the saw with the left hand.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTSLaughlin July 4, 1950 Jamack 'Mar. 24, 1953 Getsinger May 4, 1954 FisherJune 21, 1955 Forsberg Feb. 21, 1956 Hopla Dec. 11, 1956 Konieczka Feb.18, 1958

